Perception and Decision Making
Introduction
The study of cognition is pursued at several levels, from low-level perception and attention (Dr Isabelle Mareschal, Dr Caroline Brennan) to high-level processes such as decision making, problem solving, social cognition, learning, creativity. (Dr Magda Osman, Dr Nathan Emery, Prof Lars Chittka, Dr Frederike Beyer, Dr Caroline Di B. Luft). Research in this area draws from a mixture of techniques to monitor and model both behaviour and brain activity in humans and animal models.
Dr Magda Osman discussing the UK Government's system of consent for organ and tissue donation.
Staff
| Researcher | Title | Department |
Research Interests |
| Beyer, Dr Frederike | Lecturer in Psychology | Psychology |
Cognitive neuroscience, Social cognition, Sense of agency, Emotional reactivity |
| Brennan, Dr Caroline | Reader in Molecular Genetics | Psychology |
Genetics and psychiatric disease, Biology and motivated behaviours, Cognition, Attention |
| Chittka, Prof Lars | Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology | Psychology |
Sensory systems, Comparative cognition, Insect learning and memory, Animal navigation |
| Di Bernardi Luft, Dr Caroline |
Lecturer in Psychology |
Psychology |
Advanced EEG/fMRI methods - Learning - Creativity - Psychophysiology - Transcranial current brain simulation |
| Senior Lecturer | Psychology |
Animal cognition, Creativity, Innovative problem-solving, Gaze following |
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Senior Lecturer in Psychology |
Psychology |
Gaze, Human perception, Attention, Social neuroscience |
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| Osman, Dr Magda |
Reader in Experimental Psychology |
Psychology |
Decision making, Agency and control, Unconscious processes, Parkinson's disease |
Collaborators
We collaborate with the following universities:
- University of Lübeck, Germany (Prof. Ulrike Krämer)
- Instituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (Dr Agnieszka Wykowska)
- University of Trento, Italy (Prof Giorgio Vallortigara)
- University of Southern California, USA (Prof Scott Fraser)
- Goldsmiths, University of London (Prof Joydeep Bhattacharya)
- University of Cambridge (Prof Zoe Kourtzi)
- Universidad de La Laguna, Spain (Prof Ernesto Pereda)
Publications
Rider A, Coutrot A, Pellicano E, Dakin S, Mareschal I (2018). Semantic content outweighs low-level saliency in determining children’s fixation of movies. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Luft C, Zioga I, Banissy M, Bhattacharya J (2017). Relaxing learned constraints through cathodal tDCS on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Scientific Reports
Luft C, Meeson A, Welchman A, Kourtzi Z (2015). Decoding the future from past experience: learning shapes predictions in early visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology
Beyer F, Sidarus N, Bonicalzi S, Haggard P (2017). Beyond self-serving bias: diffusion of responsibility reduces sense of agency and outcome monitoring. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Coutrot A, Binetti N, Harrison C, Mareschal I, Johnston A (2016). Face exploration and gaze preference for the left eye differentiate men and women. Journal of Vision
Binetti N, Harrison C, Coutrot A, Johnston A, Mareschal I (2016). Pupil dilation as index of preferred gaze duration. Royal Society Open Science
Beyer F, Münte T, Göttlich M, Krämer U (2015). Orbitofrontal cortex reactivity to angry facial expression in a social interaction correlates with aggressive behavior. Cerebral Cortex
Parker M, Brock A, Sudwarts A, Teh MT, Combe F, Brennan C (2015). Developmental role of acetylcholinesterase in impulse control in zebrafish. Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience.
Wang MY, Brennan C, Lachlan R, Chittka L (2015). Speed-accuracy trade-offs and individually consistent decision making by individuals and dyads of zebrafish in a colour discrimination task. Animal behavior
Proulx M, Hussein T, Parker M, Brennan C (2014). Parallel mechanisms for visual search in zebrafish. PLoS One